


In The Absence of A Typical Family Structure

by wildeisms



Category: Parasol Protectorate - Gail Carriger
Genre: AU In Which Lyall Is Still Around, Hopeless Gays Attempt To Raise A Baby While Sorting Out Their Complicated Love Lives, M/M, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-28
Updated: 2017-05-16
Packaged: 2018-07-10 18:45:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7000054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wildeisms/pseuds/wildeisms
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When it comes to the Akeldama household, things haven't exactly been going to plan. But can the newest addition to said household help them bring things back on track?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

One can say many things about Lord Akeldama, and that is just the way he likes it. It rarely even matters what they say - so long as they do not accuse him of being unfashionable in any form - as the only thing worse than having people talk behind your back is having them not talk about you at all. Now that is a true tragedy. 

Yet one has to be careful. Potentate he may be, but there are certain legal and moral restrictions, particularly amongst the mortals in society, which mean that one is required to at least put up the pretense of subtlety around less than favourable activities. Particularly when one is the guardian of a child.

Prudence Alessandra Maccon Akeldama - a quite frankly ridiculous name, even by Akeldama’s standards - was to be raised in the most proper manner possible, at the request of her darling mother. Although really, quite why she believed that Akeldama was capable of any form of propriety other than the most superficial was beyond him. But nevertheless, he tried his utmost to provide his little Puggle with the best and most socially appropriate upbringing he could. Unfortunately for him, while Lady Alexia Maccon was there to contribute to this upbringing, Rue still lived in the home of a rove vampire, next door to a werewolf pack, and things were about as normal and straightforward as one would expect from such an arrangement: not in the slightest.

“Oh, sugar plum, not the-” 

Too late.

Akeldama came to a halt in front of her, and rubbed a hand over his unblemished porcelain skin. If it were possible for a vampire to experience such a thing, he would have had dark shadows under his eyes from having far too little sleep. His darling Puggle was a mischief maker and a half - a trait he heartily approved of - and seemed to have no concept of appropriate hours in which to be causing said mischief. It was this latter part which was the problem.

Rue had reached the age at which curiosity appears to reach its peak. She was able to move around with far greater ease than she had as an infant, which meant that nothing and no one was safe. Including, it seemed, the curtains. Somehow, without even taking supernatural strength, she had managed to rip them down - curtain pole and all - on top of her tiny form, knocking several ornaments off the nearby table in the process, and was giggling madly at the destruction. 

“Is she alright?”

As if summoned by the chaos, a bedraggled Biffy burst into the room. To those who knew Biffy, the amount he cared about Rue was evident simply from the state of his cravat - only half tied and clearly abandoned in favour of investigating just what the little madam had done this time. 

“I believe so,” Akeldama said in a soft, weary voice. “I fear that if I made any greater effort to investigate, we’d be in a situation of even greater concern with a little vamp running loose.”

Biffy stopped beside him and sighed. That was the trouble with preternatural children. Supernatural carers are rendered practically powerless against their antics after sunset, unless they would like to cause yet more havoc. But luckily for the pair of them, Tizzy was only moments behind Biffy. He would have arrived sooner, but no matter what the reason for rush may be, one should never make an appearance with a shirt only half buttoned.

He leant down and picked up Rue with a soft tut. “Are you alright, my darling?” he asked as he placed her on his hip. Both Biffy and Akeldama hovered close trying to check the same thing.

“She didn’t seem to hit her head, but I can’t be quite certain,” Akeldama informed them, but still made sure to examine her for any bumps or bruises. If his little Puggle got hurt on his watch, he would simply never forgive himself.

“M’kay Dama,” Rue assured him in a bright voice that suggested the whole incident had been a rather fun affair.

“Of course you are, cherry blossom. Given your parentage, you’re bound to be tougher than an old curtain, hmm?”

“Yeah!” she agreed with a bright grin. “Did I win game?”

“If that game was to destroy your darling Dama’s house, you certainly did. But why don’t we find a new game, hmm?”

“Catch me!” she exclaimed, bouncing in Tizzy’s arms so much that he had to tighten his grip to stop her toppling to the floor.

“It’s night time, sweetheart,” he said gently. “You know your Dama and Biffy can’t catch you at night.”

“I’m certain you’ll be able to rope some of the others into chasing her around the house for a while, even if we can’t join you,” Biffy added at the disappointed look that had crossed Rue’s sweet, round face. “Goodness knows you lot spend most of your time doing that in one way or another.”

Tizzy glanced at Akeldama to check that he wouldn’t mind, and when he gave a smile and a nod, Tizzy beamed down at Rue. “There we go, then. And we can play with Dama and Biffy another time, can’t we?”

“Of course,” the pair agreed. Akeldama blew an overly dramatic kiss to Rue, which she pretended to catch, and then she was swept away in a much better mood than she had been before.

If only the same could be said for the werewolf and vampire who remained behind.

Biffy sank back onto the plush sofa with a dejected look that did not suit his usually lively, charming face in the slightest. Akeldama paused for a moment before sitting beside him. It was his house, it was not wrong for him to simply sit. What does it matter if the seat next to him happens to be occupied by a person whom he would greatly like to hold close to his unbeating heart yet was forbidden from doing so by just about every moral and social convention there  was?

Well, it matters a great deal. And Lord Akeldama knew it.

Not only was there the tricky matter of species differences - it may have worked for Lord and Lady Maccon, although that was quite a different situation - but there was also the issue of one Professor Lyall. Dolly was sweet, and even the most oblivious of creatures must surely be aware of the not-quite-relationship between the Professor and the young wolf currently sat at Akeldama’s side. The young wolf who should have been a young vampire.

Whatever could be done in such a predicament?


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who forgot he never finished writing this! Yes, I really am that stupid. But to make up for it, I stayed up to bash out a quick new chapter and will endeavour to update more than once a year until the ending.

There were times in which Biffy found himself rather missing mortality. Of course, he’d never planned to stay mortal forever, but there was something about having the decision made for him that left him nostalgic for days past. Or, more accurately, abilities past. Yes, he was a surprisingly powerful future Alpha. But he could not so much as hold the child he had come to view as not quite a daughter, but a niece at the very least, during the night. Nor could he hold the man he had spent years longing for, although that was not exactly due to his physical abilities.

Everyone who was anyone knew of Lord Akeldama’s preferences, although those who lived under the guise of respectability pretended that they didn’t. And they thought they knew how his relationships with his drones transpired. But they didn’t know a damn thing.

True, there were some who were simply accessories, lovely things with which he liked to surround himself. But Biffy had always thought that he was different. He had been more than a mere bedmate. They had been lovers, real lovers, had they not? The way his Lord had reacted when he had been turned, surely… But then he had withdrawn, presumably disgusted by Biffy’s new existence, or perhaps - it was self-indulgent and foolish to think it, but perhaps - he was heartbroken. 

But where was his own heart in all this? Biffy still felt his pulse race when he caught Akeldama’s eye, but then there was Professor Lyall… The quirk of his lips could make Biffy’s heart flutter and the taste of them could make his knees feel weak. They were wolves and they belonged as a pair, and yet sometimes Biffy found himself wishing for short, sandy hair to turn long and blonde. 

He was beside him, barely a foot away, and yet Biffy could not act. He didn’t want to act, when he had a wonderful lover already. Or did he still want to? It seemed that his heart was becoming rather gluttonous, desiring more than one man’s fill of love, but he was powerless to stop it.

He was pulled out of his thoughts and his cravat by two delicate hands, which re-tied the offending garment in a much more acceptable knot. “There, much better,” Akeldama said brightly, but Biffy thought that he detected a note of falsehood in his tone. “Sweetness, if it weren’t for our dear Puggle, I’d be  _ terribly _ concerned for your sanity, with you turning up in a cravat so poorly tied.”

“She is certainly a handful,” Biffy agreed as Akeldama’s hands roved over his chest, adjusting and re-adjusting his cravat and smoothing out his waistcoat until, finally, it seemed to meet his standards. Before, he might have made a flirtatious comment about how he wouldn’t mind seeing Biffy out of that cravat, and all his other clothing to boot. But that was before. Now, he seemed to flirt with Lord Maccon, of all people, more than he did with Biffy. He wasn’t sure whether or not to consider that an insult.

He flirted with Lyall too, his mischievous eyes sparkling as he teased the man something rotten. Biffy supposed it ought to upset him, to make him jealous, but somehow, it didn’t. If anything, it led to some rather interesting thoughts involving putting his espionage skills to an alternative, definitely not intended use while the pair fell into bed together. They would never, he knew that, but he could not pretend that the idea wasn’t appealing, at least not when both mind and body said that it emphatically was. He knew full well what he wanted, but he also knew that he couldn’t have it.

He wished he could say something, anything, but the words wouldn’t come. He forced a smile and got to his feet, and all that could come out of his mouth was “I should go.”

And so he went, and he didn’t dare look back.

**Author's Note:**

> I promise the poly is coming soon (provided I stop being a terrible author and update consistently)


End file.
